Fluid, powder or grain feed tank

ABSTRACT

A fluid, powder or grain feed tank, wherein the service tank is provided with a tank body to be filled with fluid, powder, or grain, the inside of the said tank body being divided into two chambers with a separating wall, the said separating wall being movable upward and downward to relatively increase and/or decrease the volumes of the two chambers, and each chamber being filled with the said fluid, powder, or grain. With this feed tank, there is no possibility of the load to allow its fillers to be deteriorated of oxidation, deteriorated of oxidation even when a consecutive feeding system is applied, and furthermore to allow foreign matters to invade into the fillers.

FIELD OF THE TECHNOLOGY

This invention relates to a fluid, powder or grain feed tank.

BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGIES

Conventional systems of liquid feeding, which successively decrease theliquids that had been filled with in a tank, cannot keep the liquidsaway from contacting air while the liquid level drops. When the liquidfilled with in the tank is a reducing liquid such as sodium sulfite, theliquid may face a problem of deterioration due to oxidation leading tocompromising its commercial value.

Though a system is designed to control the quantity of a chemical in achemical tank by means of providing a chemical manufacturing facilityseparately, particularly in case the chemical must be continuously sentout, it is typical in actuality that additional chemical is fed into thechemical tank after a level gauge indicates that the level in thechemical tank has dropped. Also in this case, the surface of thechemical contacts air when the level drops, leading to the said problemof deterioration due to oxidation.

This kind of problem is not limited to the case where tanks are filledwith liquid, but is commonly observed in the cases where tanks arefilled with gas, powder, or granules.

In addition, there is another problem: the more frequently fillerscontact air, the more likely foreign matters such as wastes, vermin, orbacteria may invade into the fillers.

This invention is intended to provide a fluid, powder or grain feed tankthat does not allow its fillers to be deteriorated of oxidation,deteriorated of oxidation even when a consecutive feeding system isapplied, and furthermore does not allow foreign matters to invade intothe fillers.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The tank of this invention is provided with a tank body to be filledwith fluid, powder, or grain, the inside of which is divided into twochambers with a separating wall, which is movable so as to relativelyincrease and/or decrease the volumes of the said two chambers, each ofwhich is filled with the said fluid, powder, or granules.

The inside of the said tank body is divided horizontally to form anupper chamber and a lower chamber with a separating wall, which ismovable up and down.

Or, otherwise, the inside of the said tank body is divided vertically toform a left chamber and a right chamber with a separating wall, which ismovable from side to side.

The said separating wall comprises a base plate of multi-angular orround form and a slidable sheet: the one end of the said slidable sheetis fixed on a peripheral end of the said base plate, and the other endof the said slidable sheet is fixed on the inside walls of the tankbody.

Or, otherwise, the inside of the said tank body is divided with aseparating wall installed on a plurality of pillars extending upward anddownward into an inner chamber inside the said separating wall and anouter chamber outside the said separating wall, the separating walllocated in the spans of the pillars being movable toward the innerchamber as well as toward the outer chamber within the tank body.

The said two chambers are filled with the same kind of fluid, powder, orgrain.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front schematic sectional drawing showing an embodiment ofthe fluid, powder or grain feed tank according to this invention.

FIG. 2 is a front schematic sectional drawing showing another embodimentof the fluid, powder or grain feed tank according to this invention.

FIG. 3(a) is a cross-sectional view showing a third embodiment of thefluid, powder or grain feed tank according to this invention, and FIG.3(b) is a longitudinal sectional view of FIG. 3(a) taken along the lineb-b.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing another state of the fluid,powder or grain feed tank.

FIGS. 5(a) and (b) are cross-sectional views showing a fourth embodimentof the fluid, powder or grain feed tank.

FIGS. 6(a) and (b) are cross-sectional views showing a fifth embodimentof the fluid, powder or grain feed tank.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the fluid, powder orgrain feed tank applied to a cargo ship according to this invention.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The embodiments of this invention are described according to thedrawings as follows:

Numeral 1 as shown in FIG. 1 is the tank body for feeding fluid, powder,or grain.

The tank body 1 is designed to be filled inside with fluids includingliquid or gas, powders such as flour, or grain such as rice or beans(hereinafter genericly called “fillers”), and the inside of the saidtank body 1 is divided with a separating wall 2 horizontally to form anupper chamber 11 and a lower chamber 12. The upper chamber 11 and thelower chamber 12 are in such a state as filled with fillers.

The tank body 1 is a sealed tank, and may be made of either syntheticresin or metal, and more preferably made of a material resistant tocorrosion due to the fillers filled with inside. As corrosion resistancecan be realized by means of coating, lining, etc, a steel-made tank mayalso be applicable. The form of crosscut section of the tank body 1 maybe multi-angular, round or in any other voluntary shapes.

The fact that the separating wall 2 is movable upward and downward asshown in FIG. 1 is important in this invention. In a preferableembodiment of this invention the separating wall 2 consists of a baseplate 21 of multi-angular or round form and a slidable sheet 22, and theone end of the said slidable sheet 22 is fixed on an peripheral end ofthe said base plate 21 and the other end is fixed on the inside walls 13of the tank body 1.

The base plate 21 consists of a flat board of multi-angular or roundform similar to that of the crosscut section of the tank body 1, and itsoutside diameter is designed to be smaller than the inside diameter ofthe tank body 1 to provide a given length of the gap between theperiphery of the said base plate 21 and the inside wall 13 of the tankbody 1.

The material of this base plate 21 may be synthetic resin such as hardvinyl chloride resin or stainless metal, or may be the onesurface-coated with vinyl chloride resin or fluorocarbon resin, or arubber-lined metal.

The slidable sheet 22 is made of chemical-resistant soft synthetic resinsuch as synthetic polyester resin fiber or synthetic polyethylene resinsheet, and the one end of it is fixed on the periphery of the said baseplate 21, and the other end is fixed on a generally middle part in thevertical direction of the inside walls 13 of the tank body 1.

Also, the slidable sheet 22 is installed to range between the insidewalls 13 of the tank body 1 and the periphery of the base plate 21. Thismakes it possible for the base plate 21 to move up and down within thetank body 1 to ensure that the following two shapes can be taken: ashape in which the space of the upper chamber 11 is the minimum (thestate as indicated with dotted lines in FIG. 1) when the base plate islocated at the highest end and a shape in which the space of the upperchamber 11 is the maximum (the state as indicated with solid lines inFIG. 1) when the base plate is located at the lowest end, making itpossible to relatively increase and/or decrease the volumes of the upperchamber 11 and the lower chamber 12.

Fillers to be filled with in the tank body 1 include reducing liquidssuch as sodium sulfite; pH controllers such as caustic soda, sulfuricacid, and calcium hydroxide; chemicals such as polymer coagulant andinorganic coagulant; pressurized liquids such as carbonated beverages,liquids such as drinking water, purified water, and petroleum; fluidsincluding various gases; powders such as flour; or grain such as riceand beans. Among them, reducing liquids can benefit better from theadvantage of keeping the fillers away from contacting air as a featureof this invention.

The fillers to be filled with in the upper chamber 11 and the lowerchamber 12 may be different each other, but it is more preferable thatthey are the same, because either of them can be used as a stand-by ofthe other.

An embodiment in which sodium sulfite (reducing liquid) is filled within the tank shown in FIG. 1 is described as follows: Firstly, sodiumsulfite is filled with in the upper chamber 11 through an inlet line100. Secondly, sodium sulfite is filled with in the lower chamber 12through an inlet line 200. Thus, the tank body 1 is filled with sodiumsulfite.

A pump (not shown in the Figure) connected to an outlet line 201 isactuated, if the sodium sulfite in the lower chamber 12 is used as a pHcontroller, for example. As the sodium sulfite in the lower chamber 12is consumed, the separating wall 2 gradually falls, and the volume ofthe lower chamber 12 relatively decreases. That is, the sodium sulfitein the lower chamber 12 becomes smaller in quantity. On the other hand,the upper chamber 11 is supplemented with sodium sulfite in the samequantity as is decreased in the lower chamber 12. That is, the more thelower chamber 12 loses the filler, the more the upper chamber 11 issupplemented with the filler proportionally.

In this connection, the upper chamber 11 is also equipped with an outletline 101, through which sodium sulfite in the upper chamber 11 can bedischarged.

In the above embodiment, wherein the upper chamber 11 and the lowerchamber 12 are kept filled with sodium sulfite, respectively, and sodiumsulfite is sent out of the lower chamber 12, the sodium sulfite does notcontact air, and therefore there occurs no deterioration due tooxidation.

Also, since the whole tank is filled with the same kind of liquid, theliquid in the upper chamber 11 can be used as a stand-by, if the liquidin the lower chamber 12 has been used up, and no deterioration due tooxidation occurs even during a continuous feeding.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the tank is filled with the samekind of liquid, and therefore, there occurs no change in the verticalload of the tank itself even if the liquid is sent out. This is veryhelpful in designing the foundation of the tank, while the design of thefoundation of the tank would be very difficult, if the vertical loadfluctuates. In addition, cracks or damage on the foundation of the tank,which is often caused by the fluctuation of the vertical load, can beavoided.

Furthermore, when the liquid in the upper chamber 11 is sent out, thelower chamber 12 is supplemented with the liquid in the same quantity asthat sent out from the chamber 11, and therefore, there is no chance tothe liquid in the chamber 11 of contacting air, while the liquid in theupper chamber 11 is sent out. Hence, the liquid in the upper chamber 11can also be continuously sent out without being deteriorated due tooxidation.

When the tank body 1 is filled with liquid as described in the aboveembodiment, the base plate 21 may be provided with a float (not shown inthe Figure) on the upper face and/or lower face, or the base plate 21itself may be a float. Such a float may be so constituted as to be fedwith air from the outside of the tank body 1 to be filled with air, asrequired.

Also, when the tank body 1 is filled with liquid, the upper chamber 11or the lower chamber 12 may be equipped with an agitator (not shown inthe Figures), as required.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the fluid, powder or grain feed tankaccording to this invention. Explanations of letters or numerals thereinare omitted, since the parts with the same letters or numerals in FIG. 2as in FIG. 1 have the same constitution with FIG. 1.

The direction of the separating wall 2 within the tank body 1 in thisembodiment is upward and downward, and therefore, the separating wall 2is designed to be movable from side to side. It is without saying thatthe filler to be filled with may be fluid, powder, or grain, however, aremarkable effect can be obtained when the filler is powder.

That is, hopper-type facilities are typically adopted for feedingpowder. The especially important point of hopper type is the tilt anglesof the bottom portion of hoppers. If the tilt angles are obtuse, thepowder may be hard to fall because the powder gets solid. If the tiltangles are acute, the hopper has to be taller, leading to a higher costfor its installation.

A factor disturbing a smooth powder fall is the contact of the powderwith air. This contact cannot be avoided for the hopper-type. As thepowder decreases in the hopper, the space in the upper portion of thehopper expands, wherein the powder contacts air and absorbs moisturecontained in the air to become apt to form powder blocks. Thisabsorption of moisture disturbs the fall of the powder off the hopper.

If the hopper is sealed, the powder will not fall. The method of feedingdry air into the hopper can be considered, but it would cause an immenseinstallation cost.

In this embodiment, the inside of the tank body 1 is divided with theseparating wall 2 into a left chamber 110 and a right chamber 111, andthe both chambers are filled with powder, and while the powder is sentout, the powder is kept away from contacting air. This prevents thepowder from absorbing the moisture contained in the air to enable asmooth feeding of the powder. There is no invasion of foreign matters,neither. The purpose of making the direction of the separating wall 2 upand down is to prevent the powder from solidification due to compaction.

In each embodiment described above, the tank body 1 is divided into thetwo chambers by means of fixing the other end of the slidable sheet 22constituting the separating wall 2 to the inside walls of the tank body1, but this type of embodiment is not essential, if the tank body 1 canbe divided into two chambers in any other way. For example, a slidablesheet may be shaped into a bag and held in the tank body 1, and theinside of the tank body is divided with a boundary part into the partwhich is inside the bag and the part which is outside the bag to becalled the upper chamber and lower chamber, or the right chamber and theleft chamber, as applicable.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show yet another embodiment of the fluid, powder orgrain feed tank according to this invention.

Explanations of letters or numerals in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are omitted,since the parts with the same letters or numerals in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4as in FIG. 1 have the same constitution with FIG. 1.

The tank shown in the present embodiment is common to those described inthe other embodiments in that the inside of the tank body 1 is dividedinto two chambers with a separating wall, which is movable to relativelyincrease and/or decrease volumes of the chambers, but is characterizedin that the two chambers separated each other by the said separatingwall are so constituted as to arrange the one chamber around the otherchamber.

That is, the tank body 1 assumes a square shape in its cross section,and is provided with a plurality of pillars 3 extended upward anddownward inside. The pillars 3 shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are four innumber, and arranged equally in the four corners within the tank body 1,but their numbers as well as arrangements are not specifically limited.

Each pillar 3 has a separating wall 2 installed on it within the tankbody 1. The separating wall 2 is composed of a slidable sheet shapedinto a bag state made of chemical-resistant soft synthetic resin such assynthetic polyester resin fiber, synthetic polyethylene resin sheet, orsynthetic rubber, and is fixed at its upper part on a filler inlet 14installed on the upper part of the tank body 1 to allow the said inlet14 to link only to the inside of the separating wall 2, and is fixed atits lower part on a filler outlet 15 installed on the lower part of thetank body 1 to allow the said outlet 15 to link only to the inside ofthe separating wall 2, too. And, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, theseparating wall 2 is in a state in which the internal volume is themaximum to have the degree of size almost consistent with the insideform of the tank body 1, and is designed to be movable toward an innerchamber 120 and an outer chamber 121 within the tank body 1.

In this embodiment, the inside of the tank body 1 is divided with theseparating wall 2 installed on each of the pillars 3 into the twochambers, i.e. the inner chamber 120 formed inside the separating wall 2and the outer chamber 121 formed between the outer surface of theseparating wall 2 and the inside wall of the tank body 1. And the innerchamber 120 is designed to be able to receive and discharge fillersthrough an inlet line 14 a connected to an inlet 14 and an outlet line15 a connected to an outlet 15, and on the other hand the outer chamber121 is designed to be able to receive and discharge fillers through aninlet line 16 and an outlet line 17 both installed on a flank of thetank body 1 and linked only to the inside of the said outer chamber 121.141, 151, 161, and 171 shown in FIG. 3(b) are all open-close valves.

The feed tank shown in this embodiment is thereby designed to be able torelatively increase and/or decrease the volumes of the inner chamber 120and the outer chamber 121, i.e. maximize the volume of the inner chamber120 (or minimize the space of the outer chamber 121) by filling it withfillers and gradually decrease the volume of the inner chamber 120 bygradually discharging the fillers from the inner chamber 120 through theoutlet line 15 a (or gradually sending fillers into the outer chamber121 through the inlet line 16) and letting the separating wall 2installed in the spans of the pillars 3 shrink toward the center of thetank body 1 to lead to minimizing the volume of the inner chamber 120(or maximize the volume of the outer chamber 121).

Since the feed tank shown in this embodiment is provided with the twochambers, i.e. the inner chamber 120 and the outer chamber 121 locatedaround the inner chamber 120, separated by the separating wall 2 withinthe tank body 1, and variable in relative volume, the fillers filledwith can be kept away from deterioration due to oxidation by controllingthe sending and discharging of the filler to and from the inner chamber120 and the outer chamber 121, and there occurs no fluctuation ofvertical load of the tank itself, and there is no threat of receivingforeign matters, just as desired in the other embodiments aforementionedin terms of effect.

Also, since the separating wall 2 is installed on the pillars 3 that arearranged within the tank body 1, it can smoothly move toward either theinner chamber 120 or the outer chamber 121 with each pillar 3 as asupporter, and smoothly increase and/or decrease the volumes of theinner chamber 120 and the outer chamber 121.

In the feed tank shown in this embodiment, the inlet line 14 a connectedto the upper part of the tank body 1 and the outlet line 15 connected tothe lower part of the tank body 1 may be arranged oppositely.Furthermore, the inlet line 14 a may also act as an outlet line and theoutlet line 15 a may also act as an inlet line. In this case, the tankbody 1 may be provided with only any one of the inlet line 14 a and theoutlet line 15 a.

The pillars 3 hanging the separating wall 2 may be arranged not only onthe four corners inside the tank body 1 as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4,but also on a generally central parts of the four sides of the inside ofthe tank body 1 having square cross section as shown in FIG. 5(a). Inthis case, if the separating wall 2 in the spans of the pillars 3shrinks at the most toward the center of the tank body 1, the innerfaces of the separating wall 2 in the spans of the pillars 3 contactsclosely together to make the volume of the inner chamber 120 theminimum, and the volume of the outer chamber 121 the maximum.

The form of the cross section of the tank body 1 is not limited tosquare, but can be another polygon such as triangle or pentagon, and thenumber of the pillars 3 on which the separating wall 2 is installed maybe appropriately adjusted in conformity with the shape of the tank body1.

Furthermore, the tank body 1 may be a circle in cross section as shownin FIGS. 6(a) and (b). FIG. 6(a) and FIG. 6(b) show the state of themaximized volume of the inner chamber 120 and the state of the maximizedvolume of the outer chamber 121, respectively.

For this third embodiment the fillers to be filled with in the tank body1 may be sludge (activated sludge, coagulated sludge, etc) to besedimented and separated besides fluid, powder, or grain as alreadyexemplified.

The fluid, powder or grain feed tank according to this invention asaforementioned can take other various kinds of embodiments according toits uses in addition to the embodiments as merely ordinary tanks. Forexample, the fluid, powder or grain feed tank according to thisinvention can take the embodiment of cargo ships as shown in FIG. 7.

FIG. 7 shows that a space to be filled with fillers is formed within aregion surrounded by side walls 10A, an upper wall 11A, and a bottomwall 12A. This space is equipped with a separating wall 13A formed by aslidable sheet similar to those aforementioned and movable up and down,and this separating wall 13A is designed to separate an upper chamber14A and a lower chamber 15A, and also be able to relatively increaseand/or decrease the volumes of the upper chamber 14A and the lowerchamber 15A through inlets and outlets (not shown in FIG. 7) by movingup and down. This slidable sheet is formed into a bag state, and fixedat its peripheral part on the side walls around the generally middlepart of the space to form the lower chamber 15A inside the bag and theupper chamber 14A outside the bag, and the slidable sheet correspondingto a boundary part between the upper chamber 14A and the lower chamber15A is designed to act as the separating wall 13A and be movable up anddown.

FIG. 7 shows that the separating wall 13A is not equipped with a partcorresponding to the base plate 21 shown in FIG. 1, and constituted onlyby the slidable sheet. In case there is no base plate, as exemplified inthis embodiment, the separating wall 13A is preferably formed to have asize such that when the volume of the upper chamber 14A or the lowerchamber 15A is maximized the separating wall 13A can almost closelystick to the wall of the other chamber so that each of the upper chamber14A and the lower chamber 15A can be utilized to the maximum.

This embodiment realizes the holding and transportation of fillers,keeping them away from deterioration due to oxidation or the threat ofinvasion by foreign matters, since the fillers are held in the lowerchamber 15A, as shown in the said Figure, for example. If the fillersheld in the lower chamber 15A are sent out from the ship, keeping thisstate as it is, then the inside is rendered empty. For cargo ships, itis required that the empty space must be filled with ballast water (seawater). In the present case, filling of the upper chamber 14A with waterwill keep the draft at a given level, and in addition, does not cause aproblem of contaminating the lower chamber 15A with the ballast water,since the upper chamber 14A is perfectly isolated from the lower chamber15A with the separating wall 13A.

Also, since the separating wall 13A is movable up and down within theship, there is no risk of endangering the ship balance.

Furthermore, when either chamber is constituted by a bag-state slidablesheet, leak of fillers held in the chamber formed by the bag-state sheetwill be prevented even in the event of wreckage and occurrence of riftsin the hull. If the filler is petroleum in the chamber formed by thisbag-state slidable sheet, the problem of ocean contamination due to oilleak in case of wreckage will vanish.

Industrial Applicability of the Invention

This invention is able to provide fluid, powder or grain feed tank,wherein fillers do not develop deterioration due to oxidation, do notdevelop.

1. A fluid, powder or grain feed tank, wherein the service tank isprovided with a tank body to be filled with fluid, powder, or grain, theinside of the said tank body being divided into two chambers with aseparating wall, the said separating wall being movable upward anddownward to relatively increase and/or decrease the volumes of the twochambers, and each chamber being filled with the same fluid, powder, orgrain.
 2. The fluid, powder or grain feed tank of claim 1, wherein theinside of the said tank body is divided horizontally into an upper partand a lower part to form an upper chamber and a lower chamber with aseparating wall that is movable upward and downward.
 3. The fluid,powder or grain feed tank of claim 1, wherein the inside of the saidtank body is divided vertically into a left part and a right part toform a left chamber and a right chamber with a separating wall that ismovable from side to side.
 4. The fluid, powder or grain feed tank ofclaim 1, wherein the separating wall is made of a multi-angular or roundbase plate and a slidable sheet, the said slidable sheet being fixed atone end on the periphery of the said base plate, and being fixed at theother end on the inside walls of the tank body.
 5. The fluid, powder orgrain feed tank of claim 1, wherein the inside of the tank body isdivided with a separating wall installed on a plurality of pillarsextending upward and downward inside the tank body into an inner chamberinside the said separating wall and an outer chamber outside the saidseparating wall, the separating wall located in the spans of the pillarsbeing movable toward the inner chamber and the outer chamber within thetank body.
 6. The fluid, powder or grain feed tank of claim 1, whereinthe above two chambers are filled with the same kind of fluid, powder,or grain.